Holiday Cookies for the Health Conscious

Holiday cookies are a tradition that may go back for centuries. Cookies as we know them in America were originally brought by English, Scottish, and Dutch immigrants. Many of the traditional Christmas cookies we eat today originated from all over Europe as part of holiday festivities.

Centuries ago in Bavaria and Austria, they made springerle, which were simple white, anise-flavored cookies. They were typically rectangular or circular and would have a design stamped on the top. Biblical scenes were some of the earliest pictures stamped onto springerle cookies, which eventually transformed into pictures of holidays and events. These stamped cookies eventually became part of holiday traditions. German lebkuchen (which is gingerbread) was one of the first cookies traditionally associated with Christmas.

By the 1500s, Christmas cookies had become a trend all over Europe. In the early 1600s, the Dutch brought the first Christmas cookies to America. By the late 1800s to the early 1900s, cookie cutters hit the market, creating the festive shaped cookies that we eat to this day.

Holiday cookies can be so deliciously tempting, but hard on our diets. Cookies are intrinsically unhealthy, so how do we make them better for us?

Celebrity caterer, Andrea Correale, the founder and president of Elegant Affairs in NYC, has created these easy holiday cookie recipes for the more healthconscious. By switching out some of the ingredients with less conventional but slightly healthier ingredients, we can still enjoy holiday cookies but with less guilt.